Every day I try and fit in a 5-minute mindful meditation. Nothing complicated—I just try observe my surroundings, and really immerse myself in the moment. This week’s meditation came when I was out for a walk with my family along the coast where I live. Spring was tentatively showing signs of life, and I experienced a perfect 5 minutes, as we stopped half way up the hillside to catch our breath.
So let me take you with me to that place, so you too, can experience a little of the peace I felt. First, close your eyes for a moment, and take some deep, slow breaths. When you are ready, open them once more and I shall take you the peaceful place I found.
Don’t forget to take your time and read nice and slowly, allowing each image to seep into your mind. Try and experience your surroundings, and the sensations they might bring…
The blue of sea and sky
Blue. Blue is everywhere before you. The near cloudless sky above, with a handful of wandering wisps, and then the deeper, richer blue of the sea, stretching out into the infinite haze of the horizon.
You are sitting upon a dry, comfortable tussock, high up on a grassy hillside. The best seat in the house. The green is rolling away from you, steeply down toward the cliff below, where waves lap against unseen rocks.
The spring sunshine warms your face. When you blink, it illuminates your eyelids with a pink glow. You look out over the surface of the water. Thousands of square miles laid out like a rough-weave cloth. So much blue! So rich and deep, as far as you can see.
In patches, here and there, you pick out movement that seems more than just the foaming crest of a wave. There is life down there. Tiny flecks of white, undulating in a familiar rhythm—wings in flight.
Seabirds. Some bobbing on the water in groups, spread out like flotsam from an unseen shipwreck. Others are circling into the air, looking beneath the surface, waiting for a flash of sunlit scales to swoop down and pounce upon.
This area of sea is industrious. Gannets wheeling high, cormorants flying so low their wing-tips touch the waves. Gulls of all kinds, a scutch of guillemots. Maybe, you fantasise, even some puffins.
You stretch out your awareness and try to enter the mind of one particular bird, bobbing on the surface, about two miles out to sea. What is life like for you, today?—you ask. What are you feeling, out there in the blue, with only the sound of lapping water, and the quicksilver glints of sunshine balancing on the tips of the waves?
You release a satisfied sigh, and sink into a comfortable repose. You slow your breathing and let the calmness of the moment seep into your core. You feel a sense of utter peace. Time seems to stretch, as if all other parts of your life have melted away. Only here, only now exists.
Here, on your tussock, looking out to sea, and tasting the salty fragrance of its unbounded freedom—you feel content.
Why not try having a 5-minute mindful meditation too, wherever you are today? You don’t have to be anywhere spectacular. Simply stop everything for a while, take some slow, deep breaths, and begin to open up your awareness to what’s going on.
If you like, you can let me know how it goes in the comments. What did you experience or feel? I look forward from hearing all about it.
Science-backed ways to be happier…
Get science-backed, life-improving ideas sent to you twice a week. Covering stress, happiness, health & finding meaning in the modern world.
Leave a Reply